


Hanukkah Jily

by nagemeikenu



Series: Hanukkah Fest 2020 [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Buddhist Character, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Female Jewish Character, Hanukkah, Interfaith, James is Buddhist and adorable, Jewish Character, Jewish Holidays, Latkes, Lily is Jewish and awesome, Religious Discussion, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, jily, sufganiyot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28032036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagemeikenu/pseuds/nagemeikenu
Summary: James decides to head over to Lily's flat spontaneously. Their relationship is strong, but it could get stronger through latkes, understanding, and plenty of love
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Series: Hanukkah Fest 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050842
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14
Collections: Marauders Hanukkah Fest 2020





	Hanukkah Jily

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter was beta'd by the lovely [ @brooklynllamaqueen](https://brooklynllamaqueen.tumblr.com), and sensitivity read by the equally lovely [ @purplechimera](https://purplechimera8.tumblr.com). Hope you enjoy the tooth rotting fluff I came up with for Prompt 2!

James adjusted his collar and took a deep breath. The love of his life had said she wasn’t sure about whether she was free tonight, and he missed her even though they’d kissed each other goodbye that morning. Well, he’d knock on her door and see what she was up to. If she was busy, he’d go to a pub and text Sirius...but if she wasn’t…

He grabbed his coat, keys and wallet before he lost his nerve. Immediately, he regretted not taking his gloves along, too, but he knew if he turned back he just wouldn’t go. To strengthen his resolve, his hands shoved into the thin pockets and stayed there even on the tube. The winter cold seemed to seep into every pore of existence, or maybe that was nerves.

Why was he so nervous? Lily had finally agreed to a date months ago. They were solid as a couple, like nothing could break them apart. Their religious differences, his arrogance, her temper, his carelessness and her stubbornness; all of that made no impact on how much they mattered to each other. He didn’t know anything about Judaism, really. She didn’t really understand Buddhism. He was arrogant enough to put her off his personality for over a year, and her temper fueled his own. His carelessness had made her cry more than once, and her stubbornness had made him feel that she didn’t value his opinion or viewpoint just as often. Yet here they were, four months into a relationship, and James was still stalling outside her flat’s door.  _ For fuck’s sake, just knock! _

“James?” Lily pushed her long hair away from her face, and James smelled her perfume and the scent of something frying up.

“Hey,” James grinned at her, taking in her blue apron and flour speckled face. “You look wonderful.”

“You look cold,” Lily told him, but stepped aside to let him in.

“I know you said you didn’t know what you’d be up to tonight, but…” James shrugged bashfully. “I missed you today.”

“Sometimes,” Lily sighed. “Sometimes, you are the sweetest bloke I’ve ever dated.”

“Does that mean I can stay?”

“Yes,” Lily laughed. She took his coat and hung it up, then walked into the kitchen. He followed eagerly. Even though he never really understood her diet, the kosher thing, he did know that Lily was an excellent cook. Something smelled fantastic.

“What are you cooking, love?” James tried to peek into the frier but Lily shooed him away.

“Let me flip these.” Lily took a spider (which James was fascinated by, as it was definitely  _ not _ related to the arachnid) and turned whatever was in the fat over. “I’m making sufganiyot. I’ve already made latkes, and we can have one of these for dessert.”

“Suf-gah-what?” James had at least heard of latkes from somewhere...probably Remus, who’d looked up a lot of Jewish stuff for when they found out about Lily’s faith.

“Donuts, Potter. Israeli, jam-filled donuts.” Lily grinned at him. “You’ll like them, I promise.”

“Why don’t you just call them jam donuts, then?”

“Because they’re for Hanukkah,” Lily rolled her eyes.

“Hanukkah? That’s the Jewish Christmas, right?” James squinted at the golden brown circles. They looked like thin, circular hash browns. Since he liked hash browns quite a lot, he’d not complain.

“Kind of,” Lily answered. “It’s also a festival of lights and hope.”

“Oh,” James said. “When is it, then? Not on the twenty-fifth?”

“No, tonight is the first night of Hanukkah.” Lily pointed at the candelabra with two candles in it, unlit. He could see that one was in the middle, raised up, and one was on the far right side.

“Right,” James blinked. Suddenly, he started to realize that Lily’s faith wasn’t like his. He was more casual about what he believed. As easy-going and adaptable as Lily was, it seemed there were some things he’d have to learn about her faith in order to understand her better.

“Are you hungry?” Lily asked, holding a plate out to him.

“Always,” he told her with a grin. The plate was loaded with latkes and he was offered sour cream and applesauce. He really wasn’t sure why tomato sauce wasn’t an option, but resolved to try both. It turned out that sour cream and applesauce tasted even better with the latkes than tomato sauce tasted with a hash brown. Naturally, his next instinct was to blend the two of them.

“Did you just mix them together?” Lily asked him.

“Yeah,” James confirmed, and took a bite. He thought the combination was fantastic. “It’s good.”

“Most goyim don’t do that,” Lily chuckled.

“Goyim?”

“Gentiles, non-Jews.”

“Oh, alright. Hey, Lils…” James paused to think about how to phrase it properly.

“Do you mind me calling you a goy?”

“No, that’s fine. I was more wondering what Hanukkah was. I’ve really no idea, but you’re important to me. So, because it’s important to you, your faith should be important for me, too. Can you show me how you celebrate it?” James licked his lips.

“Yeah,” Lily gave him a smile he’d never seen before. “Sorry, it’s just...no one else I’ve dated has ever asked about that.”

“Well, you’ve got a history of dating gits.” James shrugged. “You leveled up with me.”

“Shut up, Potter.” She laughed while he shoveled more latkes into his mouth. He was glad he’d come over. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have found another way to connect with her. As she recited the prayers and lit the candles, he felt hopeful that as he learned, their love would grow stronger and stronger.

“Hanukkah sameach,” he said softly.

“You butchered it horribly,” she told him, “but thank you. It means a lot to me that you’d try.”

“I’ll get better,” he promised.

“Yes, you will.” She kissed him, and the warmth in his heart seemed to envelop them both.


End file.
